North Carolina State thwarted second-seeded Duke’s pursuit of back-to-back ACC Tournament championships with a 74-69 quarterfinal win on Thursday in Washington D.C.
It was the first game of the tournament for the No. 11 Blue Devils due to a double-bye on account of their top seeding in the conference. They hadn’t lost a conference tournament opener since 2013, and the early exit won’t bode well for the team’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils missed their first nine field goal attempts of the game, which was an early indicator of offensive struggles to come.
The Wolfpack, on the other hand, came out strong, maintaining their momentum in the tournament from defeating Louisville on Tuesday before completing an upset win over No. 7 seed Syracuse on Wednesday. They have now won three consecutive games in the three games, a full turnaround from their previous four-game losing streak.
NC State’s 5-of-11 shooting from the 3-point line helped the team establish a 35-32 lead as they entered halftime.
Starting guard DJ Horne, who is returning from injury, came off the bench to score 12 points in the first half for NC State. His scoring in the first half included a buzzer-beater to end the period. He added six morer points before the game ended, two of which came from crucial free throws in the last 15 seconds of the matchup.
It almost looked like Duke was set to benefit from an all-time collapse in the final 30 seconds, as this missed dunk highlighted a series of late errors:
But NC State was able to hold on for the win despite an attempt to rally led by Duke Center Kyle Filipowski. Next, the Wolfpack will face the winner of Thursday night’s quarterfinal between Virginia and Boston College.
This story will be updated.
